Bulgari
Octo 102971

No. The bracelet is integrated into the case: there's no traditional lug where you can thread a strap. I've seen too many people search for workarounds that compromise the watch. The only proper route is to have the strap built bespoke directly onto the Octo, in the atelier.

I work exclusively at <a href="/pages/casati-booking">Casati Milano</a>, by appointment only. I take the watch, measure the case and proprietary lugs with precision to a tenth of a millimetre, and build the strap calibrated to that specific geometry. This isn't something done from photographs: the piece itself is essential.

Mississippi alligator. The Octo is both sporty and refined, and that titanium lightness demands a leather that doesn't weigh it down. Alligator has the elegance on the grain side and the flexibility that dialogues well with the ultra-flat case, without betraying its character.

With regular wear, 5 to 7 years. It depends on how you treat it: avoid standing water and dry heat. Leather ages well if you condition it occasionally. I've seen Barenia straps still looking fine after a decade, but that demands care.

Gérald Genta in 2012 wanted the case to speak as a single form, without interruptions. The eight sides that echo Rome find their geometric coherence only if the bracelet follows that octagonal logic. It's a design choice, not a limitation.